John Stewart: Green Lantern Appreciation 2023

[Vordan]

Reminds of this idea I had of characters regularly getting new flashback stories that sorta retell/update old parts of their history.

Like say for the Teen Titans something that adds a modern portrayal of the original Fab Five team or a Jason Todd comic centering on his time as Robin

I would love to see more series in the style of Waid’s World’s Finest. Set in the past during the “classic” era and just telling stories without worrying about the sacred continuity.

I almost wrote out the fix for all this here but, instead, I think I'm going to file off the DC aspects and make it a creator-owned thing.

That would be cool. At this point I would rather see DC launch an “Ultimate DC” line that stars John over there where a writer gets a clean slate to modernize him, as opposed to the difficulty of doing that on Earth 0. Especially because with DC’s endless continuity shifts it’s basically a Sisyphean task. Even if someone did successfully rebuild him, who can say if their hard work would carry over for the next Crisis? Rather do it as an Elseworld project which can stand alone.

I think if his origin story gets retold, I'm sure there's going to be a retcon where John would be the second human to wield the power ring, rather than the third. This makes sense, considering the show stars John and Hal. I would be down to see Katma on the show. I also wonder whether we'll see her in PKJ's run.

I thought he was the second human Lantern for a long time myself. If I was to “modernize” the origin, I would have Hal and John both chosen at the same time by Abin, and the ring is split into two for each. The Guardians aren’t sure if humans are ready to be inducted into the GLC yet, so John and Hal’s power is limited in scope, and that keeps both of them Earthbound for the first year or so. Then after they pass their “trial” period, they go to Oa to training and graduate to full blown GLs.

They should bring Katma back. I could understand keeping her dead if it was a death that had a major impact on John, but modern writers try and avoid her entirely. I understand why, a newcomer to John doesn’t know anything about her, and she hasn’t had an adaption in modern media to provide an alternate entry point for her (her DCAU incarnation was just a blip in the grand scheme of things). Bring her back (because God knows John has been chaste as a monk since she died) or do a BL book for John that retells their love story.

[j9ac9k]

They should bring Katma back. I could understand keeping her dead if it was a death that had a major impact on John, but modern writers try and avoid her entirely. I understand why, a newcomer to John doesn’t know anything about her, and she hasn’t had an adaption in modern media to provide an alternate entry point for her (her DCAU incarnation was just a blip in the grand scheme of things). Bring her back (because God knows John has been chaste as a monk since she died) or do a BL book for John that retells their love story.

He was with Merayn, the blue-skinned former Darkstar for years, so there was that.

[Frontier]

He was with Merayn, the blue-skinned former Darkstar for years, so there was that.

And Fatality.

[SecretWarrior]

John is the second backup, but he’s also the second full time human GL.

[SecretWarrior]

[John Venus]

If Sinestro were in this, it would make more sense to have him start as a GL or lone rogue and then build up the Sinestro Corps

If the story features a bit of early days Hal and John, then Sinestro prolly wouldn't already have his own Corps

I'm not sure if I want Sinestro in an earth based GL story. Feels like he would be better served in stories set in outer space. Alternatively, if John and Kyle are the 'detectives' here it would make sense for Sinestro to be the corrupt police commissioner or lieutenant.

I’ll throw out a hot take here: I think John would have benefitted from getting a hard reboot during the New 52 like Aquaman did.

Partially agree. But the only reason would be because the dreadful Xanshi thing has to be removed. Mosiac and his time with the Darkstars are all good stories that can be built upon and Katma can always be either brought back or stories can be set in the past featuring their time together.

Why not? The new medium offers opportunities for a shift in character that comics might not. And this is the BLM era - having modern John be a reflection of that would harken back to his original appearance. Not to mention pairing him with Hal would mean two former military guys as the leads so it wouldn't surprise me if the showrunners want to differentiate them a bit more. (esp if they're inspired by "TD")

Mostly because I think pop culture is in a place where the narrative is either about the glory of fighting war itself or its about soldiers suffering from PTSD.

You don't see too much focus on why war needs to be fought at all, the how/why it's being fought or denouncing it completely.

I highly doubt we will see a scene like this in a DCU adaptation today:

WW MM on War.jpg

[j9ac9k]

Mostly because I think pop culture is in a place where the narrative is either about the glory of fighting war itself or its about soldiers suffering from PTSD.
You don't see too much focus on why war needs to be fought at all, the how/why it's being fought or denouncing it completely.
I highly doubt we will see a scene like this in a DCU adaptation today:

Oh, okay. I thought you were talking about John being outspoken and political in general, not about that specific topic. Considering what we've heard, I don't expect the topic of war to be addressed in this series just because it's supposed to be a mystery story.

[Redjack]

SIDEBAR:

Going to be rolling out comics, both digitally and POD, starting at the end of this month.

AMAZON.
INDY PLANET.

And some other stuff you all might like too.

[Frontier]

SIDEBAR:

Going to be rolling out comics, both digitally and POD, starting at the end of this month.

AMAZON.
INDY PLANET.

And some other stuff you all might like too.

Cool! Thanks for letting us know .

[Sodam Yat]

Since it's Black History Month, DC Comics posted up video showing clips of John Stewart and how he says the Oath on Twitter. It's a really good video. I like really how they put it together. But beware, there's a very short clip of him taking down Hal Jordan as Parallax from Beware My Power animated movie (kinda surprised they even added that in there, since DC is highly invested into Hal Jordan as of late).

I thought he was the second human Lantern for a long time myself. If I was to “modernize” the origin, I would have Hal and John both chosen at the same time by Abin, and the ring is split into two for each. The Guardians aren’t sure if humans are ready to be inducted into the GLC yet, so John and Hal’s power is limited in scope, and that keeps both of them Earthbound for the first year or so. Then after they pass their “trial” period, they go to Oa to training and graduate to full blown GLs.

They should bring Katma back. I could understand keeping her dead if it was a death that had a major impact on John, but modern writers try and avoid her entirely. I understand why, a newcomer to John doesn’t know anything about her, and she hasn’t had an adaption in modern media to provide an alternate entry point for her (her DCAU incarnation was just a blip in the grand scheme of things). Bring her back (because God knows John has been chaste as a monk since she died) or do a BL book for John that retells their love story.

That's how I see it, too. He does seem to come off as the second human Lantern. This is mostly because how popular the character has become. Regarding about John being chosen at the same time by Abin, eh, I don't know about that. I like the chosen specifically by the guardians angle. I think that's what makes the character even more special, compared to other human lanterns. The Guardians sees something in John that no one else sees. Not even Hal Jordan at first. That would be something I would LOVE to see in the show. Have something like that similar to the comics, but it would be better to remove the whole racial origin story. Have something else that shows why John is so damn fearless.

[j9ac9k]

I like the chosen specifically by the guardians angle. I think that's what makes the character even more special, compared to other human lanterns.

Personally, I hate any "chosen one" plots - it's just lazy writing. They tried doing that with Hal in the original pitch for "Emerald Twilight" and I hated that too. "More special" than other GLs seems antithetical to the notion of the corps to me. Being in the GLC should be special enough - even when there were 7,200 that's in the entire universe - that's still rarefied air and pretty "special." I feel those kind of stories take away from the character and their agency in making themselves great because of their actions, through exercising their will not because they were destined, or chosen. It comes across to me just as an attempt to - as you say - make a character seem more special rather than offer a good story.

[SecretWarrior]

Personally, I hate any "chosen one" plots - it's just lazy writing. They tried doing that with Hal in the original pitch for "Emerald Twilight" and I hated that too. "More special" than other GLs seems antithetical to the notion of the corps to me. Being in the GLC should be special enough - even when there were 7,200 that's in the entire universe - that's still rarefied air and pretty "special." I feel those kind of stories take away from the character and their agency in making themselves great because of their actions, through exercising their will not because they were destined, or chosen. It comes across to me just as an attempt to - as you say - make a character seem more special rather than offer a good story.

I've thought about this as well and have gone back and forth on it.

Ultimately, yes, the ring choosing people based on their personal qualities (and to a lesser extent their abilities) is the heart of the franchise. But there are other important elements to consider. First, the Guardians programmed the rings to look for specific qualities and virtues in a potential bearer. That means a ring scans for a checklist. Not everyone chosen meets every single box, but they meet enough of them. Maybe John met every one of the qualities the Guardians were looking for? That doesn't make him better than other characters by default, since the qualities the Guardians are looking for may not be the best qualities for a GL in reality or may not be a good fit for particular missions. Second, the ring's selection clearly has a locational element to it. The ring doesn't seek out the absolute best person in the universe or the solar system or the space sector. It tends to find the best candidate close by, and usually that's on-planet. (It would say a lot about a planet's people if there were no one on that planet sufficiently qualified.) Maybe the Guardians saw enough in John that they didn't want to let the opportunity he presented to go to waste by leaving it to chance.

My biggest concern about the chosen one thing is that it can be seen as making John the guy who blindly supports the Guardians' status quo, which contradicts the moral convictions of the character. The thing is that the chosen one element is more clearly part of the modern version of the character. It was introduced in Mosaic and then referenced in multiple other runs, giving it decades of build. The only alternative is his first origin, which puts a lot on emphasis on handling that period's racism, rather than letting that be something that he has to deal with from time to time.

John builds bridges and is the watcher on the wall. That's the most important thing.

[Frontier]

Personally, I hate any "chosen one" plots - it's just lazy writing. They tried doing that with Hal in the original pitch for "Emerald Twilight" and I hated that too. "More special" than other GLs seems antithetical to the notion of the corps to me. Being in the GLC should be special enough - even when there were 7,200 that's in the entire universe - that's still rarefied air and pretty "special." I feel those kind of stories take away from the character and their agency in making themselves great because of their actions, through exercising their will not because they were destined, or chosen. It comes across to me just as an attempt to - as you say - make a character seem more special rather than offer a good story.

Sometimes a main character's gotta be a main character.

[SecretWarrior]

Mood.

[Redjack]

Personally, I hate any "chosen one" plots - it's just lazy writing. They tried doing that with Hal in the original pitch for "Emerald Twilight" and I hated that too. "More special" than other GLs seems antithetical to the notion of the corps to me. Being in the GLC should be special enough - even when there were 7,200 that's in the entire universe - that's still rarefied air and pretty "special." I feel those kind of stories take away from the character and their agency in making themselves great because of their actions, through exercising their will not because they were destined, or chosen. It comes across to me just as an attempt to - as you say - make a character seem more special rather than offer a good story.

the canon's the canon.

Hal got his ring because Abin Sur's ship crashed and he was the nearest person to fit the necessary criteria which, apparently, is just the ability to overcome great fear.

Guy got his ring because, apparently, for some reason, Hal needed a back-up.

John was marked as a future ascended being by the Guardians which is why he got his ring. Training wheels.

Kyle got his ring because, as Ganthet put it, "you'll have to do." Right place, right time, no special qualities beyond luck.

(Can't remember why Simon and Jess got theirs.)

Jo got her ring because Nemosyni needed an 'off-the-grid' Lantern with a prototype ring that wouldn't be affected by Koyos's schemes.

The original notion of "back-up GLs" doesn't even make sense. If a GL falls, the ring finds a replacement. "Back-ups" aren't necessary. Another will be found right away.